Meet the Channel 7 Bricks and Clicks experts: Trent Innes, Xero

posted in Uncategorized

Xero is proud to sponsor the new online e-learning program and television show, Bricks and Clicks, airing on Channel 7 from Sunday 24 February. Find out how Trent Innes, the managing director of Xero in Australia and Asia, will be involved – and tune in to hear his advice to retailers across the country.

Have you ever thought of applying the idea behind,“It takes a village to raise a child,” to a small business? While you can raise a child or build a beautiful business in isolation, it takes a connected system of support and different kinds of help to truly make things flourish.

In Australia, over 97% of all businesses are considered to be small. And those businesses employ over 45% of people across the land. It isn’t always easy. Behind every small business, there’s a person or people who are chasing their dream, trying to make ends meet, agonising over hiring their first or next employee, chewing over buying more stock, planning to expand or concerned about shrinking – the list goes on.

While it takes knowledge, technology and a dose of bravery for any small business owner to connect to global opportunities, the potential upsides are incredible. Small businesses can now be digitally connected to their customers, suppliers, advisors, banks, government and more – from anywhere.

I’m fortunate in my role that I get to visit many small businesses who continually amaze me with what they are doing, how passionate they are, and how resilient they are. I see that it can be massively rewarding. I‘ve met business owners in regional areas who have influenced their entire local economy, creating jobs in communities that otherwise suffer a ‘brain drain’ as people move from the country to the city.

Just recently, we shared the story of an accountant who moved her business 500km and didn’t lose a single customer. She had that flexibility because she runs her entire business online.

Helping small businesses grow from bricks to clicks

There are so many ways we can help small businesses to thrive online. That’s why I’m excited to take part in Bricks and Clicks, a new initiative helping Australian retailers progress from being local retailers into global brands.

The initiative kicks off with a six-part documentary series that follows six bricks-and-mortar retailers in their bid to go global. But it’s not just for television. And it’s not just for retailers. Small businesses of any shape and size will be able to access free online course material full of practical information, and make the change too.

I’ll be offering advice on ways to manage growth – something I’ve experienced firsthand as the Xero teams across Australia and Asia have gone from strength to strength. In this era of digitisation, it’s relatively easy – and an exciting time – to scale. But you need to get the right tools and people in place as you do.

For more advice from Trent and other successful business leaders around Australia, tune into Bricks and Clicks which is airing on Sundays from 24 February on Channel 7 at 1pm.

Small businesses can register their interest to complete the free online course at www.bricksclicks.com.au. The course will be available from 24 February.

The post Meet the Channel 7 Bricks and Clicks experts: Trent Innes, Xero appeared first on Xero Blog.